The Fall Anime 2025 Preview Guide - Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family!

Alma is a super high-performance girl-type weapon created by two genius scientists, Enji Kamisato and Suzume Yobane.

Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! is based on the manga series by Yoshitoki Ōima. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.

Marie may be a girl pretending to be a robot, so now we have the reverse: Alma is a robot attempting to be a girl. Whether or not she's deliberately trying to mimic humanity isn't actually important, though, because this is, at its heart, a found-family comedy. And really, Enji and Suzume, the scientists who created Autonomous Learning Military Android (ALMA) only have themselves to blame - they're the ones who gave her internet access, after all.

Although they may have implemented some parental controls while they were at it, because Alma has a remarkably PG idea of what a mommy and daddy do. She's sure that Enji and Suzume are her parents because they're a man and a woman who created her, but she's a little fuzzy on the how. She's also a touch confused about why the parents sleep next to each other rather than having the child in the center in a shared family bed, so I have to think that her internet access has been limited in some way. That's just as well, though; I think Suzume and Enji would actually die if Alma mentioned sex. They can't even say the word in each other's presence, after all.

That's just part of the plot here, though. Although Suzume and Enji can't quite bring themselves to admit it, they really are Alma's parents, and they really do seem to be moving towards being a family. Even without the whole “one family, one futon” bit, their interactions with their daughter are remarkably wholesome and mimic a lot of important childrearing moments. Their not-so-secret surveillance of Alma's first errand is the big one, but they also bicker about who installed certain pieces of her personality (i.e. raised her), figure out ways to get her to go to sleep, and even discuss whether or not she needs to wear something – pajamas, in this case, but it certainly sounds like a regular parent conversation that more typically revolves around coats and weather. Sure, most people's children don't hack into municipal records to create a marriage registry for their parents, but Alma's no ordinary kid and they're just going to have to find ways to cope with that.

The art and animation aren't anything special here. There are some cute details, like Alma's power button choker and the way the lights on her headpieces flash when she's online, but this feels like a show you watch for the cute emotions rather than the stunning visuals. Alma's no Anya, but watching her bring her parents together could still be a lot of sweet fun.

I just finished writing about the new isekai, Dad is a Hero, Mom is a Spirit, I'm a Reincarnator, where I gave the show credit for not trying too hard to play the cutesy-poo angle with its eight-year-old protagonist. How funny it is, then, that the very next premiere on my docket is Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family!, where my biggest issue with the show is how hard it leans into the classic moe character and story tropes. It's not a terrible show, to be clear, and I can imagine plenty of folks will adore little Alma, just as the show intends. I'm just the kind of guy who instinctively starts to reject a cartoon that feels so desperate to earn my precious “Awwwwwwwwwws” without actually putting into the work to stand apart from the usual fare. For context's sake, I'm the guy on the ANN team that is constantly proselytizing the perfection of Paddington Bear. I love adorable little scamps who get into mischief but also make the world a better place thanks to their particular world view. The difference between Alma and Paddington, I think, is that there is only one marmalade loving Peruvian bear who wears a cute bucket hat and institutes meaningful reform across London's Dickensian criminal-justice system. When it comes to monotone little robot girls with themed hair accessories and a desire to be treated like a real human being, Alma is one amongst a sea of Persocoms, Metal Idols, Bioroids, and Aigises. That is to say nothing of the technically distinct but functionally identical Monotone Clone Girls, Monotone Alien Girls, and Monotone Normal-Human-But-Very-Shy Girls.

The point is that the whole gimmick of Alma doesn't feel very interesting or unique on its own at all, which is not a crime, but it doesn't do her show any favors. Instead, the appeal of the story has to come from her interactions with the two awkward science dorks that made Alma, which is where the show is more successful, I think. Usually, Alma would be the adoptive little sister, or maid, or daughter figure of a single dad or older brother type, and her cuteness would lead him to the woman of his dreams over time (unless the point is for the guy to fall in love with the robot herself, but I digress). What I like about Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! is the fact that Enji and Suzume are being put through their rom-com paces from the opening scene. The “forced family” routine is usually a more interesting and funny setup than the “found family” route, at least in my experience.

Now, could you easily argue that Alma-chan Wants to Be a Family! is just a science-themed riff on the much better SPY x FAMILY? Oh yes, absolutely. Still, the SPY x FAMILY template is one that hasn't yet been done to death, and the shows that do feel like they're playing in the same sandbox have been great fun (I miss you, Buddy Daddies). Alma-chan is hardly must-watch material, but it's a cute way to pass a half-hour while you're waiting for the next episode of Loid, Anya, and Yor's adventures to arrive.